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Murder statistics of transgender people

Originally posted at Pantheos/What Would JT Do

Christina here…

I’ve been thinking a lot about trans issues a lot in the past few days, and have especially been considering the disturbing statistics associated with the violence and oppression transgender people face. The statistic that disturbs me the most, which I have now seen on many other websites, was first presented in the comments section of this post on the phrase “Die Cis Scum” (emphasis mine):

Natalie Reed says:

May 24, 2012 at 8:08 pm(Edit)

The difference is VIOLENCE.

Go look up how much risk there is for atheists being murdered by Christians. Now how about that one in twelve risk for trans women being murdered by cis people. Or one in eight if you happen to be a trans woman of colour.

My first reaction to this statistic was along the lines of, “ONE (1) IN TWELVE (12)?! Holy FSM, this is fucking horrifying! Trans people have every reason to be freaked out by cis people, not just because of the oppression and discrimination, which is bad enough, but especially if cis people are murdering trans people at this rate. Trans people have every reason to be freaked out if cis people are murdering trans people at all, especially if those murders are based on hatred toward trans people, especially if trans people are targeted for being trans. This has to stop!”

Then the big fat “SCIENCE!” switch in my brain got flicked on, so after my initial horror, I thought: “I’m going to find a primary source for this statistic right now.” Why: Because the statistic is an important one. If I’m going to make a claim, especially a shock-inducing or surprising and/or horrifying one, I had better back it up. Or, if I’m going to file this statistic away in my brain under “transgender issues”, then I want to make sure I verify it.